Produced with loving care by Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, with no edits or overdubs, this document of Miles Davis's Montreux performances shows through never-before-released material how Miles and company transformed his music live, with their fire, invention, and interplay. The list of sidemen on these dates is a who's who of today's superstars, including saxophonist Dave Liebman, guitarists John Scofield and Robben Ford, keyboardists Adam Holzman and Kei Akagi, bassist Michael Henderson, and percussionist Mtume. Most of the music on these discs features versions of Davis's fusion "hits." The funky and R&B-ish ditty "Ife" and the bouncy "Calypso Frelimo" are rendered with more gusto than their studio versions, as are the in-the-pocket, mid-'80s tunes "Star People" and "New Blues." A package this big has more than a few surprises, however. Chaka Khan lends her powerful pipes to Davis's unique cover of the Michael Jackson sleeper, "Human Nature," and "Al Jarreau" is an upbeat (though too short) tribute to the great vocalise master.

Five CD collection from the Jazz great. In 1985, Miles Davis shocked the music world by moving from Columbia to Warner Brothers. He immediately started working on an album called Perfect Way after a tune by Scritti Politti, later renamed Tutu. When Tutu was released in 1986, it re-ignited Miles Davis' career, crossing over into the Rock and Pop markets and winning Davis two Grammy Awards - the album was a key factor in raising Davis' status to an international superstar. This box set includes the Warner Bros studio albums Tutu, Amandla and Doo-Bop, the Dingo and Siesta soundtracks and live recordings with Quincy Jones and the likes of Kenny Garrett, Foley and Adam Holzman. The set also includes four previously unreleased tracks, from the Rubberband Sessions. The liner notes were provided by leading Jazz critic Ashley Kahn.

The Sony/BMG Original Album Classics series brings together 5 CD's of rare and out of print titles with some best sellers from the Sony/BMG Jazz catalog. Many of these albums have been unavailable on CD for some time and are sought after by collectors. Each set is presented in a high quality, rigid cardboard slipcase containing five vinyl replica mini LP sleeves. This 5 CD collection of original releases featuring Miles Davis includes the albums The Man With The Horn, Star People, Decoy, You're Under Arrest, and Aura. A great collection of post sabbatical Miles Davis. I great meld of old school and fusion jazz. The last hurrah before the spotty Warner Brothers years.

From his early years mastering bebop and jazz standards, through his cool, modal, post-bop, electric and funk periods, there was always a strong sense of direction and a singular voice in the middle of the fray. That essence remained through Davis' final years; he still offered beautiful songs, wisely chosen and intelligently arranged. Miles traditionalists will appreciate the first track here, in which he breathes new life into "In A Silent Way." That quickly leads into "Intruder," a blowing vehicle for the venerable and impressive saxophonist Kenny Garrett. Garrett and bassist Richard Patterson proceed to go crazy on the frenetically funky "Wrinkle." Tunes like "New Blues" and "Tutu" reveal the sophistication of the master himself as a composer, as well as his finesse on trumpet. Another standout player here is the insanely expressive Foley, sounding like Jimi Hendrix, only funkier (and on bass).

2002 remastered reissue of 1996 live release featuring material recorded on two tours from 1985-91. Includes Kenny Garrett & Foley & Adam Holzman. The closing track, 'Hannibal', comes from the very last performance of Davis' life.

After 30-plus years with Columbia Records, Miles Davis departed to sign with Warner Brothers Records. TUTU finds Miles entering the world of MIDI, chaperoned by former sideman, Marcus Miller and pop jazz hitmaker Tommy LiPuma, and beat box music would never be the same again.
TUTU is the birth of a new kind of cool, based on the emblematic street beats of the mid-1980s, brimming over with orchestrally-styled keyboard programming. The album is a showcase for Miles' evocative muted horn, functioning like a featured vocalist. Not since his work with Gil Evans had Miles deferred so much to a collaborator, and TUTU is a platform for the arranging talents of Miller, who in addition to his distinctive, popping bass lines, plays nearly every instrument on the session--from keyboards to bass clarinet.

This package contains the original, studio-concocted Miles Davis set that Miller mostly composed. There's also a previously unreleased gig from that year's Nice Jazz festival, delivered by a powerful octet including the late Bob Berg on tenor sax. As liner-note writer Ashley Kahn points out, I made an about-turn over this music in the 80s, from first doubting it as bland funk to reconsidering it as late-flowering Miles, creativity galvanised by Miller's input. But more importantly, Kahn's fine essay offers insights into Miller's assessment that producing finished studio tracks for Miles to blow on didn't work: you had to leave them as rougher sonic sketches and let his improvising bring them to life.

Amandla doesn't sound like any of the contemporary jazz records of its time, as Miles Davis returns one last time to a leadership role he'd basically abdicated to Fender bassist/multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller on the preceding Tutu and Siesta. By plugging in with the cream of his live collaborators on Amandla, Miles retained the big band sound of Tutu, but with a more humanized sense of interplay and swing. "Catembe" heralds the third world rhythmic locus which snakes its way through the entire album, while "Jo-Jo" and "Jilli" engender an ongoing call-and-response between front line and back line, between main and secondary themes, as Kenny Garrett's fat, burnished alto lines coil and strike around Davis's more circumspect, muted phrases.

Features 24 bit digital remastering. Comes with a mini-description. Although Miles Davis did not live to participate in Gerry Mulligan's reunion recordings featuring the nonet that played on the famous late-'40s and early-'50s cool sessions, he participated in a reunion concert held at Montreux in 1991. This featured both the Gil Evans Orchestra and George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, plus additional guests Benny Bailey, Grady Tate, Carlos Benavent and various European players teaming with a gravely ill Davis to perform Gil Evans' marvelous arrangements.

Throughout a professional career lasting 50 years, Miles Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument was constant, his approach to jazz was dazzlingly protean. To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-'40s to the early '90s, since he was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the music during that period, and he often led the way in those changes, both with his own performances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and collaborators who forged new directions. It can even be argued that jazz stopped evolving when Davis wasn't there to push it forward...

Features 24 bit digital remastering. Comes with a mini description. This collaboration between Miles Davis and producer Marcus Miller (who, except for some cameos, plays all of the other instruments) is quite successful and a bit of a surprise since it is essentially a soundtrack to an obscure film. Dedicated to arranger Gil Evans, the music is greatly influenced by his style with Miller creating an electrified but very warm orchestra to accompany Davis' melodic solos. This was the first of several instances in which Miles Davis, in the twilight of his life, returned to his roots. It's worth searching for.